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A Narrow gauge project - for a change


Fen End Pit

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As the scalefour layout takes a rest while waiting for major house redevelopment I've been working on stock. Given that the E4 and various other coaches are complete I thought it was time for 'something different'.

 

Until this point Fen End Pit has been an all Simplex affair (ok, apart from the Lister) but given the Ruston and Bucyrus dragline it seemed only a matter of time before the Ruston locomotive salesman came calling for business.

 

I've always liked the LAT and LBT ever since I build the original Roy Link 7mm versions for Adit 2 more years ago than I came to remember (it was BC, Before Children). They always looked such neat locomotives.

 

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The Review had some good plans back in volume 5 so I blew these up from 7mm to 16mm. So far I've cut the bodywork and chassis out of .7mm Acrylic/ABS mix on the lasercutter and laminated various layers together to make the frames, body and cab sides. I'm expecting to have several goes at this so its not perfect yet. I know I cut the bonnet to be the correct length and forgot that it actually fits into the cab, which is why things are a little too long at the moment and the bodywork overhangs the ends of the chassis by 3mm.

 

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I've also finally got my brain around 3D CAD and using my copy of SolidEdge have draw up (sorry 'modelled', we're dealing with 3D here) the buffer beam castings, gear box unit and an attempt at the engine. I've printed these in ABS on the Makerbot replicator in Makespace in Cambridge. The results are probably at the extreme end of what you can get away with on a Makerbot, the banding inherent with the ABS extrusion type 3D printers can just about be dealt with by a mix of filing, filling and gentle brushing with solvent to smooth the 'ribbles'. I'm currently trying to sort Makespace out with an SLA printer but that is another story.

 

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I've also started to work on an etch to produce the grills, logos and various cab fitments.

 

The nice thing about these locomotives is that there was quite a bit of commonality between the LAT and LBT but also quite a bit of 'after market' variation (AKA botching) in later life. This means that I should be able to make the majority of bits to make multiple locomotives.

 

Progress won't necessarily be rapid, but I'm planning on ending up with 'a number' of Rustons.

 

David

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  • RMweb Gold

Lovely work David.

 

Looking forwards to seeing this progress.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

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Thats the first time i have seem a 3d printer put to good use. I like the model, look well good.

 

Where did you get the plans?

 

Brian

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